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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26698894">Count The Stars</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenReyesWrites/pseuds/RavenReyesWrites'>RavenReyesWrites</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>haikyuu, kiyoko shimizu - Fandom, kiyoko shimizu/koushi sugawara, koushi sugawara - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:27:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26698894</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenReyesWrites/pseuds/RavenReyesWrites</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She smiled that beautiful smile of hers as she turned to me again. “Just count all of them, you dork. When you’re done, that’s when I’ll stop loving you."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Shimizu Kiyoko/Sugawara Koushi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Count The Stars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>[ Koushi’s POV ] </p><p>I was fifteen when I first met my soulmate. She came in the form of a beautiful freshman with silky dark hair tied in two ponytails that move with her when she does. I remember having a hard time taking my eyes off her; she was that breath-taking. I didn’t even catch half of what Daichi was saying when he introduced her. All I know is that she will be our team’s manager, and that meant I’d get to see her more.</p><p>I was sixteen when I first admitted to myself that I was in love with Kiyoko. Months of seeing her everyday and getting to know her, which was not entirely easy as she prefers to sit by herself silently and scribble on her notebook, made me realize that she was more than just a pretty face. I wasn’t entirely subtle about my feelings, but she was hellbent on focusing on her tasks as our manager rather than giving me the attention my teenage self oh so wanted. </p><p>She took her sweet time in acknowledging her feelings for me, but when she finally did, heaven broke loose. My nights of waiting on her to finish her tasks in the gym and club room just so she wouldn't be alone turned to waiting up on each other and walking her home. The sappy, sweet notes I slipped into her locker turned to heartwarming good morning and good night texts. And the lunch bentos I prepared for her every Saturday practices turned to ramen runs post practice, our hands joined over the table.</p><p>And for the longest time, or at least through the rest of our high school years, our days went on like that. People have gotten used to seeing us together, and I’ve heard some of them already betting on how many kids we’re gonna have in the future. I laughed then, but I can’t deny how it had marked an imagery that eventually became a dream of mine.</p><p>The night before we were to leave for Tokyo for college, we found ourselves lying side by side on the grass in her backyard, hands joined between us as we stared up the star-littered night sky. We spoke of how amazing the next four years will be, considering that we got into the same university, with her taking up Premed and me aiming for a teacher’s degree. Then when I told her I love her with all my heart, she turned her head and looked at me, her eyes shining with so much love and admiration that I didn’t even need to hear her say it back.</p><p>“Look at the stars, Kou,” she whispered quietly as she looked back up.</p><p>My eyebrows rose at her request, but did as she asked. I looked up and I couldn’t help but smile as there seemed to be more stars out on the sky that night than ever before. I must have gotten lost in my thoughts that she had to nudge me to get my attention.</p><p>“Count all of them for me.”</p><p>“But Kiyoko-chan, you’re joking, right?” I asked, clearly confused. “That’s gotta be thousands millions!”</p><p>She smiled that beautiful smile of hers as she turned to me again. “Just count all of them, you dork. When you’re done, that’s when I’ll stop loving you,” she said before leaning in and capturing my lips between hers.</p><p>I knew at that moment that I would never want Kiyoko to stop loving me. I also knew that she was just making a point; she just wanted to show me how much she loves in a way that will rival my corniness and cheesiness when it comes to her. There is no way I could ever count all of the stars above. I rolled my eyes and started pointing up, counting up to ten before turning my head back to her and kissing her again, making her hit my shoulder before eventually kissing me back.</p><p>We were twenty-three when we got married back in Miyagi-ken despite us starting our careers already in Tokyo. Yachi was her maid of honor and Daichi was my best man. She looked so goddamn beautiful that day. Words weren’t sufficient to describe the unbelievable emotions that surged through me when she walked down the aisle in a beautiful white dress with happy tears running down her face.</p><p>That was the second best day of my life.</p><p>The best day of my life came a year and a half later, when Sugawara Yuki came into the world and into our lives. He was perfect, she was perfect, that whole day was perfect, even when I had to leave my class in the middle of a major examination because Yachi literally ran to my school because I didn’t pick up her calls. </p><p>She had always been so wary of finally becoming a mother, scared that she wouldn’t be half as good as her mom, and so I stayed by her side, telling her constantly how I couldn’t ask for a better wife and there’s no way Yuki would ever ask for a better mom. I didn’t hesitate on filing an indefinite leave from my teaching post; that way, I got to take good care of our little boy while she continued chasing her med dreams. I was living a fairytale life, with her as my queen and our little boy as our sweet young prince. But fairytales always come to an end, and sometimes, there is no happy ending.</p><p>I remember the day Kiyoko was taken from me, from us. She woke me up with a soft kiss on my mole, telling me that she has to wake up early as she has to go to work. I was so proud of her for completing medical school, and while she was on her way to becoming one of the best doctors in the city, her heart belonged to helping the less fortunate in small public clinics.</p><p>I remember telling her jokingly to skip work as we ate in the dining room, telling her to call in sick just so we can stay a little longer in bed with Yuki and I. She just smirked and told me there were lives to save. I pouted for a moment, but it quickly disappeared when she kissed me and said a gentle “I love you”.</p><p>She then walked over to our son and wrapped the six-year-old into a hug. “Baby, I have to go to work, okay? Be good to daddy. We will get ice cream when I get home, alright? I love you so much, my baby boy.” Yuki smiled widely and said the phrase back, his mind already on the promised treat he would get when she comes home.</p><p>“I’ll call during my break time, darling. I’ll come home as soon as I finish seeing my patients for the day,” she said. I nodded my head and gave her another kiss. If I had known that that would be the last time I’d see her, hold her, get to feel her lips on mine, I would have kissed her longer. I would have poured all my love into that kiss, but I had no idea that later that day, I will be receiving the worst phone call of my life.</p><p>She told me she would come home to us. She didn’t.</p><p>I got the call at around 8 PM, just as I had finished putting Yuki in bed. When I saw that it was her work telephone calling, I got excited, thinking that maybe she was already about to get off work and coming home to us already. Imagine my surprise, when instead of her soft gentle voice, it was a police officer’s voice that met my ear. He told me he was very sorry, but a deranged man came into the clinic asking for a refill of his unprescribed drugs, and when she refused to give it to him, he pulled out his gun and, well, took her from me.</p><p>I thought it was a prank, some cruel cruel April Fool’s prank that she was pulling on me, but then I realized that it was the middle of September and that no, she wouldn’t do anything as morbid as this. I sat on our bed and cried. Just cried, for hours. I called Yachi, then Daichi, damn, the whole team. They tried comforting me, but nobody really knew how because she was the only one who knew fully well how to comfort me, like how she calmed me down during that monumental Shiratorizawa match. Our friends tried though, and looking back, that’s all that matters.</p><p>The whole Karasuno team, our friends, and some of our teachers showed up for her funeral. It warmed my heart a little to see them all there. Asahi sat beside me during the requiem mass, wordlessly squeezing my shoulder gently every time a sob escaped my throat. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. They loved Kiyoko. Maybe not as much as I did, but they loved her in their own way.</p><p>There was a time when I thought I wouldn’t get through the whole moving on process. That I wouldn’t be able to wake up in the morning without seeing her beautiful face first, but I had to be strong for Yuki. He missed his mommy just as much as I did. After Kiyoko left us, he refused to eat every ice cream flavor I bought him, telling me that he wouldn’t eat unless she came back home to us. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. It was hard trying to talk to him, to tell him it was going to be okay, because whenever I tried to sit him down and talk to him while we eat, he would just run away yelling, “I don’t wanna eat! I want mommy!” it broke my heart, and all I could do is cry as silently as I could so our precious son wouldn’t feel worse than he was already feeling.</p><p>After a while, it got better. I was still hurting but the wound wasn’t as fresh as before. Yuki looks more and more like Kiyoko. It was almost like having her with me, in the form of an almost fourteen year old boy. He’s intelligent like his mom, but loves socializing like me. He has her hair and eyes, but one can tell that he has my nose and mouth just by looking at him. He also has a mole at the upper right part of his lips. His skin is the exact same fairness as Kiyoko’s and I swear, if one can hear him read those medical terms without any difficulties, Kiyoko would be so proud. I am, too, but it makes me miss her. It reminds me so much of her.</p><p>It’s our anniversary today, and Kiyoko would have never guessed where I am right now. Well, she probably could, because she knew me better than anyone else. But anyways, I was sitting out on our balcony, looking up at the stars with Yuki.</p><p>“Dad?” his still deepening voice broke my thoughts.</p><p>“What is it, son?’</p><p>“Do you miss mom?”</p><p>His question stunned me for a moment. I felt my eyes glazing over with tears before I cleared my throat and answered him. </p><p>“I do. Every single day.”</p><p>I saw him get up out of the corner of my eye. He hugged me before walking back inside and leaving me to my musings. He has always been perceptive of people, always knowing when to give space or give a hug, or in my case, both. I guess I rubbed off on him.</p><p>I was eighteen when she told me to count the stars. I was twenty-three when we promised to love each other unconditionally in front of God. I was thirty when she was taken away from me. I am thirty-eight now and I haven’t stopped counting. I’m going to keep counting until I see her again, until I hear her whisper that soft, “I love you Koushi-kun” in my ear again. </p><p>I won’t ever stop. Four hundred thirty-seven thousand, seven hundred eighty-seven stars and counting, my Kiyoko.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Based off a prompt I read some years ago and I just had to write it down. To more SugaKiyo entries!</p><p>PS: Tams, Kris, Hana, mga tita kong mapanakit, para sa inyo to.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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